Family-owned toy store getting revamped in Howell

Standing in front of the downtown Howell toy store Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018, Aric Klar, owner of Toyology, has cleared out the store of its stock while he remodels it to match the look of his other stores in West Bloomfield, Royal Oak and Rochester Hills.(Photo: Gillis Benedict/Livingston Daily)

"This was an existing toy store before we moved in here and tried to make our bones look like our other store (opened in West Bloomfield in 2011), Howell was our second location," he said. "When we opened it, all I spent was about $10,000, basically just painting the walls. ...I spend $150,000 building (other) stores."

After the revamp, it will more closely resemble Toyology's other locations in West Bloomfield, Royal Oak and Rochester Hills, he said. A fifth location will open this year in Bloomfield Hills. He said he is trying to create a consistent brand across all the stores.

He expects to spend $45,000 remodeling the store.

"(The Howell store) was a compilation of random racks, and I had a lot of wooden shelving on one side and not the other," he said. "I decided I wanted to make the Howell store look like my other stores. ...Green facades, the signage, and you're not going to see a rack more than 5 feet tall, and we'll have fixture units built by a craftsman ... This is so we can have a better, killer branded experience for Livingston County."

Toyology sells toys for all ages, from infant to senior. Many of the toys are educational. They also sell some games and puzzles for adults.

The Howell store was nearly empty Wednesday. Shoppers had cleaned out much of the inventory during a 50%-off sale.

"We have a pretty much empty store and we're ready to go," he said.

Contact Livingston Daily reporter Jennifer Eberbach Timar at 517-548-7148 or at jeberbach@livingstondaily.com. Follow her on Facebook @Jen.Eberbach and Twitter @JenEberbach.